DWP confirms issue date of £150 Disability Cost of Living payment

Mon,22 May 2023
News Benefits
The DWP has announced that more than 6 million Disabled people in the UK will receive a one-off lump sum payment of £150 from 20 June.

This follows the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment that was paid in September 2022.

Those being paid a “qualifying disability benefit” will be paid automatically from 20 June.

The “vast majority of £150 payments” are set to be made automatically over two-week period between 20 June and 4 July 2023.

Those who were paid the following disability benefits on 1 April 2023, or who are subsequently paid for that date, will be eligible for the one-off payment:

  • disability living allowance
  • personal independence payment
  • attendance allowance
  • Scottish disability benefits (adult disability payment and child disability payment)
  • armed forces independence payment
  • constant attendance allowance
  • war pension mobility supplement

They must have received a payment (or later receive a payment) of one of these qualifying benefits for 1 April 2023 to get the payment.

For those who were awaiting confirmation of their entitlement to disability benefits on 1 April, or who are waiting to be assessed for eligibility to receive disability benefits, the process may take longer, but payments will still be automatic.

The £150 payment comes as part of wider package of Government support for 2023, including separate means-tested Cost of Living Payments totaling up to £900, and £300 Pensioner Payments.

Dan White, Policy and Campaigns officer at DR UK and one of the leads at the Disability Poverty Campaign Group said:  “Disabled people are disproportionately impacted by the cost-of-living crisis.

“Living with a disability often means extra costs such as spending more money on energy, food and medicine. To keep our homes warm, power essential health and mobility equipment, and meet the spiralling cost of food, leaves millions of us without enough for essentials.

 “Another round of cost-of-living payments is of course welcome, but unfortunately the amount is woefully inadequate.

 “The Government says that it wants to support those who need it most, yet this payment does not come anywhere near achieving that. The unwillingness to understand the lives of disabled people when all the evidence of deepening poverty and worsening health is around ,is shocking and unacceptable.

What the Government should be doing is commissioning an annual independent assessment of the level of benefits because they are far too low to meet Disabled people’s needs.

"There needs to be a specific energy social tariff as well as reversing the eligibility changes to the Warm Home Discount which saw thousands of Disabled people lose out.

“There is so much that can be done to draw Disabled people out of poverty but there needs to be the willingness to do it before a humanitarian crisis explodes.”

For more information see: Payment window for £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment announced available from gov.uk.

See also our Cost of Living Help resource.